Have you ever noticed: people seem to give boys names they can imagine on a letterhead or lawyer's office door; girls can be given funky names, however, since their names... That's my theory anyway. Think of all the Ariels, etc., in the '60s (some of whom are now bloggers). Ah well, have a good holiday despite global insanity.

I can't believe you left out my personal favorite, Hannah Banana. Humph. If they need another boy name, say if the fetus in question turns out to be two, might I suggest Titus Lumumba?

These were the names my husband and I came up with whilst waiting in the doctor's office for the results of the amniocentesis. We ended up going with Matthew Robert. Boring, I know, but asaik, he has never been teased about it.

When I was pregnant my husband and I came up with a list of words that might accidentally be used as names. I've forgotten most of them now. My best was Atrocity for a girl and his best was Kevlar for a boy.

There was one hilarious scene on this topic in an episode of "Kath and Kim" (from Australia, not sure if you get it there). The heavily pregnant Kim, fresh from a visit to the hospital, told her mother (Kath) that she came across some really lovely baby names while she was there. Her favourite was Enema for a girl...

When I was choosing names I decided to go by this advice: "Stand at the back door and yell the name loudly 15 times. This is the way you will be hearing it in the future. If you still like it, it's a keeper."

anonymous and I had the same idea, although I prefer Francesca to Frances, myself. Or maybe just Franke.Urban legend says a woman heard the word Placenta in the hospital and thought it had a lovely sound for her newborn daughter's name...

But, the burning question I have today is whether or not there is "meet up" to knit while listening to Lessons and Carols from Kings tomorrow? I believe your blog was where I first heard about this tradition and I immeddiately loved you for mentioning it.

The first thing to do is to go to one of yhose internet lists where you can find out what the most popular names are, and then rule them ALL out. We loved the name Jacob for our son, and thankfully checked the lists to find out it was the most popular name around the time he was born. Now there are literally dozens of Jacobs at our small local elementary school. While he is one of two Noah's.

My sister works in mental health. She had a client who named her poor daughter Clitoris. Have you heard the one about the guy who needed a name for his new son? He looked at the doors of the ER and the lightbulb went off in his head. He named his son "Nosmo King". Merry Happy to all!

How about Alpaca? Then she can be referred to as baby Alpaca? Or if she has a future as a knitting stripper, a good name would be: Chenille Cashmere. Or if they want a British sounding knitting stripper: Rowan Bliss. Stop me now! I could do this all day!

I have a friend who has a redneck cousin that named their daughter Lexxus. (This is a family that has more than one person that answers to the name of "Cooter". Human persons. Not dog persons. The dog person is named Fred.)

I once recommended the boy name of Grant to a friend. His last name is Kenyon. I'm not very nice, but I found it hilarious that it took them three days to figure it out.

I'd go for the traditional method, as someonementioned. You grab the missal on the daythe kid is born and that's the name day aswell as birth day. Of course thereis the risk of ending up with a kidnamed Assumpta, or Pelagia theHarlot but you take your chances with the humor of the universe.

LOLOLOL. Gee, can't imagine why they wouldn't go with any of those... (Elizabeth w/o the Zimmerman? I mean, c'mon, so many variants!) At least you didn't suggest Ewegenia! ::with a nod towards Eric Flint's 1632 series::

Watch out for name meanings. [eg] Some of 'em are wild. I always liked mine, which means 'wise advisor.' (And yeah, I do tend to be asked for advice, altho ghu knows why.) But my brother Randall - one meaning of his name could be 'raised by wolves'. I always wondered about that...

When we were expecting our youngest my husband took to telling the curious that if a boy the name would be Einstein Archemides, and if a girl it would be Pallas Athena. (He's a physicist.) This usually made the questioner go away. We had a girl and actually named her Teresa Elisabeth. Later my sister named a girl Sage, and my husband swore that was the variation on wisdom that we should have used.

Alas, it seems like kids' names keep getting more and more out of the ordinary. As one of 86 "Kate"s (or some variation thereof) in my high school class, I think this might be a good thing. The latest two additions to the family here are Basil and Lilith. However, during my days as a med student and then my brief stint as an OB/G, I came quickly to realize that there was a limit to this novelty. Some of the farthest outlying names in whose deliveries I was involved:

AsiaNeo (yep, after the Matrix)Meconium (like, the baby poop)Placenta (they thought it was an even better name after I told them how the placenta is often called "the tree of life")Agatha (okay, I liked that one)Ahmyunike (say it phonetically)JeT'aimeJeselina (the first baby I ever delivered)

There were others. My very favorite, though, was a tiny, like, 5 lb little pile of adorableness (he was really very cute) named Theodore Hampton Maston V. I looked at his mother and said "There's more name here than baby!" She just shook her head a little and said, "Finn. We're calling him Finn."

Why not in honour of Debbie Stoller's Dutch mother (our knitting SnB grandmother!!!) some really Dutch names like:Sien, Dirkje (or Dirckje, Rembrandts lover),Geertje, Saartje, Antje, Janna, Stientje, Aaltje or Geraldina?Best Wishes from Deventer, The Netherlands and wonderfull days to you all and Franklin: your blog is a joy to read!!!

One has the last name Wright. He named his first two sons Orville and Wilbur, and when the third child was also a boy, Justinian (Just for short). They are not quite old enough to start hating their father for this yet.

Another named his first child Tuscanooga Baptist after the church across the street. So as not to let this child feel left out, the second was named Tyrus Volentyn. Their nicknames are Tug and Ty, as their father liked baseball, and they already had a dog named Hank. Their mother later remarried and had a daughter named Nina.

After much arguing with her baby's father, my coworker gave in and named her baby girl (over my strenuous objections) Chas'te Christian. The baby's father convinced her that the apostrophe made the 't' silent, so she can call the baby 'Chase'. I predict years of correcting those who call her Chaste or Chastay, followed by a hasty trip to have it changed on her 18th birthday.

rosesmama - who had the name choose her at about 5 weeks gestation and never worried about it since

20 years ago a pretentious co-worker of German extraction enjoyed mentioning that his family had dropped the "Von" upon immigrating to the U.S.Of course, I couldn't resist suggest "Vaughn" as a baby name. I regret to say that he chose it.

I also spent time in the medical biz, and kept a list of names. A few I recall:

Gentle HandyTiffany GlasscockEffie TitsEllie Tits

One of the docs I worked with swore that in his residency he encountered the twins "Si-PHILL-is" and"Go-NO-rhea."

The Registers in England and Scotland publish lists at the end of the year of the most popular names, see here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6192247.stm and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6197829.stm There are some good comments at http://www.tiny.cc/P4ymL There is the usual depressing reliance on soap stars and celebs' offspring as inspiration but your sister might find something acceptable there. My name is quite unfashionable at the moment, thank goodness.

I’m partial to Frances, of course, as it’s my own first name, but I never go by that name.

My husband and I have always loved the name Valancy. As we’ve never had children I’m passing it on to you. He and I ran across the name in two different books: Valancy Stirling in "The Blue Castle" (1926) by Lucy Maude Montgomery and "Pilgrimage: The Book of the People" (1961) by Zenna Henderson. Valancy is also the middle name of the Canadian poet Isabella Valancy Crawford (1850 to 1887). I’ve never been able to find an origin for the name.

In general, I recommend Lucy Maude Montgomery’s books as a source of girls’ names.

My father’s first name, Glen, has been used a lot in our family, but never his second name—Carson. I’ve always liked that name for a boy.

My husband also likes Eleanor for a girl.

I also like Claire/Clara, Delphine (name of a friend of mine) and Adeline (great-great-grandmother’s name), Cecily (The Story Girl, The Importance of Being Earnest).

My brother really wanted to name his first daughter Morag, but his wife wouldn’t agree. They compromised with Meghan. Their second daughter is Erin Anne (Erin means “Ireland” and is a variation on the name of the Irish goddess, Eriu.)

The hospital I work has encountered twins Monique and Eunique and Male (MA-lee) and Female (feMAlee), a businesswoman named Latrina (a second one!needless to say she went by her middle name) and a little boy named Dijon. And more kids named Caitlyn, Courtney, Ashley, Brooke, Heather, Brooke, or Justin than you can shake a stick at. Sue F (whose first name was the Caitlyn/Courtney of the late 50's/early 60's). Your sister could be really individual and pick a name like Mary. Or Jane. or Bertha. Well, maybe not Bertha. Pick something that sounds good with the title "Doctor" in front of it.

Personlly… I love Enid, how 'bout Rowan? Jade Saphire? ;-D. Baby names are so much fun. My X and I battled it out over the girls names… he wanted Caledonia… I liked Allison (Hello Elvis Costello Fans?) We ended up with Christopher and he prefers Chris. Then my sister gave me heck for picking such a boring name (she who's sons are David, James and Stephen). There is no winning. My favourite is the guy who named his daughter Kanta… last name Forder.

I used to know a woman who did social work among "Native American" women, most of whom were very poor, not well acculturated in mainstream American culture, and had a minimal grasp on English (didn't speak any Cahuilla, either). She tells the story of one girl who found the prettiest name for her soon-to-be-born baby. Vagina. It's got a nice ring to it, I guess, if you're into that sort of thing. My friend had to dissuade her.

I am a retired adult education lecturer,(UK) and a story that did the rounds at my college related to a woman who had poor English skills and kept referring to her son 'Goooey'. Someone asked her where she got it from and she said it was from a novel she loved.

She was then asked: "How do you spell it?"She replied: "Guy" (!) Aaahhh, bless!

I had great fun reading this...and my family thinks my child will be made fun of! (at least I am not naming her after a car, an opera, or a body part.)Carolissa Brooke I plan on calling her Lissie as a child and C.C. or C.J.Brooke etc looks very professional. I thought about Valancy, Cordelia, and such (being another L.M. Montgomery fan) but I was afraid having a long first name and middle name would be too much.) Still trying to decide on a middle name. I like Joy.

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